Blooming Love
by Inuyasha and Higurashi Kagome
Summary: A mysterious flower blooms between Inuyasha and Kagome one night, signifying true love and...the conception of a strong son! And now they've been left alone together? How unsettling! Very IC.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer – We do not own Inuyasha, or any related characters. All characters in this story belong to Rumiko Takahashi.

Author's Notes –

Inuyasha: Yeah, this is the first story we're putting up for you little brats to read. You should all consider yourselves lucky. Let's get one thing straight here – anyone that leaves any kinda stupidass comment will have to answer to me, like it or not. If you're gonna comment, don't be a shit.

Kagome: Eheh…gomen nasai. He's just a bit grumpy because he's seen a lot of unpleasant things in fanfiction lately. ; We hope you enjoy ours. It is the result of an rp. I've written for Kagome, Miroku and Shippou, while Inuyasha has written for Inuyasha, Sango, and Kirara. We work together on the story. Thank you!

We use a lot of Japanese words in our stories. We both watch the Japanese version of Inuyasha, so these are the words we are very accustomed to hearing. Since not all of you will be used to the terms, here's what they mean.

Youkai – demon, apparition

Hanyou – Half-youkai

Houshi – monk

Taijiya – Demon exterminator, Sango's profession

Kitsune – Fox, Shippou's species

Nekomata – Two-tailed cat with magic powers, Kirara's species

Shakujou – Miroku's staff

Sengoku Jidai – Feudal Era

"Anou" – "Um…"

"Nande?" – "What is it?"

"Sukebe" – Perverted, what the group usually calls Miroku when he's being…well, a pervert.

"Bouzu" – A disrespectful way to address a monk (in this case), how Inuyasha refers to Miroku when pissed off at him.

Jaki – Evil energy

Arigatou – "Thank you."

Well, we've wasted enough of the time you have too much of. Here's the title:

**Blooming Love**

Nightfall in Japan's Sengoku Jidai, though it signaled the awakening of all sorts of unspeakable creatures, held a beauty unlike anything conceivable in modern times. Among all of the country's modern residents, no one could truly appreciate sunsets in this dangerous era more than Higurashi Kagome. Gone were the many brilliant lights of Tokyo that polluted the night sky to a sickly orange color. Gone were the sounds of traffic and neighbor's dogs barking, replaced by the soothing sounds of chirping crickets. The sky was a star-studded blanket of navy, covering the girl's eyes with glitter and amazement for the world around her. Kagome leaned back, letting her fingers comb through the slush carpet of dewed grass as they took the weight of her upper body. Her head tilted back, letting the tips of her dark hair brush against the blades of grass. Eyes searched the sky, trying to find patterns in the stars she could see so clearly.

"Your era really is full of beautiful nights...you can always see the stars." She spoke serenely to the hanyou relaxed in a sturdy tree above her. Inuyasha acknowledged Kagome's remark with a twitch of his right ear. His shut eyelids didn't budge, nor did his chin from its resting place on his chest.

"Nnhn.," he vocalized from above. Obviously the hanyou held very little appreciation for his untainted surroundings.

"Yes...for all the youkai in this time...the scenery really is beautiful," the girl reiterated. She paused as her eyes drifted around a cluster of twinkles, "In fact, I think that if it weren't for the surroundings, I'd have a harder time making it."

"Pssh...makin' what?" the boy asked nonchalantly.

"You know...all this traveling and fighting," she answered. "If it weren't for you guys, and the cheery surroundings, I might be a little more prone to brooding on long walks..."

"Keh. Not like you've got much choice." Inuyasha blew a tickling bang away from his nose.

"I know that," Kagome responded calmly. "I'm just saying that…it makes it easier." She smiled as she swept her gaze across the sky, over to the hanyou's perch.

"Whether it's easy or not, it's still gotta be done." Inuyasha failed once more to comprehend Kagome's optimism while he unwittingly stepped upon it, as he's prone to doing. Kagome shook her head a little in tolerant amusement.

"Don't you have any little perks that help to keep your spirits up when you have something to do?" she asked, tilting her head up.

"When I'm doing what I want to do, what is there that'd stop me from wanting to do it?" he answered simply. Kagome shook her head once more.

"No, I mean, when you're doing something you're worried about, or that would depress you."

"Eh? Like what?"

"You know, like when there's something going on that you're worried about."

Inuyasha let his mind briefly roam over situations he's been worried about, or that depressed him. Kikyou comes to mind. "There's...usually somethin' inside that keeps me going." His voice had a barely recognizable sullen ring to it.

"Inside…" Kagome was repeating him more than asking. She turned it over in her mind, tracing the past and how he reacted. At the same time she realized that the same is true for her when it comes to really desperate situations...

"Hnn...I don't know if we're entirely on the same page..."

Inuyasha opened his mouth and lets out a raspy little yawn, tongue smacking at his lips and fangs afterward. "Whaddyou mean now?"

Kagome smiled a little and started to let her eyes drift back towards the moon. On the way, however, she caught sight of a red dab of color between herself and her hanyou companion. The moonlight hit it just right to illuminate the crimson hue, and reveal the delicate details of the five main petals.

"Is that a flower?" Kagome's hands pushed down on the grass beneath them. Once on her feet, her hand reached out to brush a finger or two across one of the petals. Inuyasha finally opened an eye. Twisting his neck to gaze downward at whatever mundane object had caught his perky female companion's attention, he managed to catch a slight hint of red at the corner of his eye.

"Yeah, so what?"

"It is," Kagome remarked as she continued to examine the red blossom. "I don't remember this being here earlier, do you?"

Inuyasha turned more of his torso to face the girl. "I don't...but it ain't like it's somethin' I'd notice."

"There aren't any other flowers either, are there..." She turned her head some, looking around. "Do you see any unopened buds or anything?"

"Nope. Don't smell any others, either."

"That's really strange…it's pretty though, isn't it?"

"Yeah, I s'pose so." Inuyasha started to relax himself against the trunk of his temporary resting place once more, answering in a tone that easily indicated that he wasn't all that interested in some silly little flower. Moments after his response, the boy's pointed ears twitched and his eyes lifted to the thick brush hiding their resting place from view. A few branches and leaves parted as the creamy, lithe form of Kirara crept into view. The nekomata's twin tails gave a flick while she whistle-mewed a greeting to the pair. Kirara then gave a similar call over her shoulder, signaling to her three companions that they'd found the rest of the party. Sango's voice chimed after, and the sounds of her footfalls on the needles and twigs followed.

"Good job, Kirara. Arigatou." Pushing a few stray branches out of the way, the taijiya revealed herself to the hanyou and schoolgirl. The jingle of Miroku's shakujou could be heard behind her.

"We're back, Kagome-chan, Inuyasha."

Kagome turned from the illuminated flower to greet her companions with a smile and a wave.

"Welcome back. I guess you had no luck… sorry you didn't find anything." Miroku approached with a causal smile, Shippou clinging to his left shoulder. The houshi shook his head.

"Unfortunately, we are low on money, and the nearest hotel insists that they cannot possibly need an exorcism for the jaki hovering about them because they'd already been exorcized three times this week." As Miroku finished, the kitsune quipped,

"Yeah! Miroku's not the only con out there!" The two women solemnly agreed while the man accused could only sweatdrop. Inuyasha, on the other hand, was predictably unfazed by the news.

"Keh, not like it makes a difference to me." The hanyou crossed his arms behind his head and leaned back on them. As proven before, he was more than willing to spend as many nights as necessary beneath the stars. Kagome gave a little sigh, disappointed that yet another night would be lacking the comfort and security of sleeping within four walls. Knowing that her friends had tried hard for it, however, she wasn't about to complain.

"I suppose we'll just have to settle here for the—"

"Sango!" Kagome was interrupted by Miroku suddenly grabbing Sango's hand. The girl's cheeks had already begun their attempt to fight back the blush rising in them from the touch of the houshi's hand. It took her a couple of seconds to glance up and follow Miroku's gaze to the space near the trunk of Inuyasha's current resting place.

"Eh?" Miroku turned to Sango again, gripping her hands in dramatic elation.

"Sango, does this mean that you will bear my child tonight?"

The poor girl immediately became flustered and confused, jerking her hand away from Miroku's while her face started to burn.

"And what makes this night different than any other?" she demanded, full of agitation. Miroku put one arm around her waist and pulled her to his side. The other arm gesticulated out towards the flower as he jovially announced,

"Why Sango, that is the Akai netsuai hana!"

Kagome had been sweatdropping and staring blankly since she heard the announcement that Miroku was going to get laid tonight. Sango struggled from the houshi's hold, placing a palm on his face and pushing with the full length of her arm.

"Well if there's one person that flower it isn't meant for, it's houshi-sama!" she protested loudly.

Inuyasha rolled his half-lidded eyes and snorted. "What's the fuss now? It's just a damn flower."

"But Sango!" Miroku persisted, "It's the Akai netsuai hana!" Sango continued to push the letch away, now with an arm and a leg against his face and torso. For lack of a perverted grope of the hand, she had yet to strike him.

"If you want anything tonight, you won't need an Akai netsuai hana!" Sango gave a shove. "You'll need a miracle!" Miroku's enthusiastic grasp remained firm.

"But Sango! That's just what the Akai netsuai hana is! A miracle that happens only between those with true love in their hearts. That night the love between them begets a strong son!" he chirped enthusiastically.

"That bud didn't blossom while you were here, Houshi-sama. And it never will." Sango cast him a dirty look. Honestly, using an old wives' tale to try and convince her to sleep with him. His methods were getting more and more desperate. Upon hearing that the flower did not bloom in his presence, Miroku himself appeared to wilt.

"It didn't?"

Kagome, listening to all of this, seemed to be starting to both understand and dread what the appearance of this beautiful red flower meant. _A flower that blooms between those with true love in their hearts…that means a strong son will be conceived that night?_ The slightly flustered schoolgirl looked warily up at her bantering friends, a sweatdrop adorning her awkwardly smiling face.

"Anou...that legend is just one of those silly, fake ones anyway, right?" she asked nervously.

Neither Miroku nor Sango appeared to have heard their friend's question right away.

"No," the taijiya stated matter-of-factly to the houshi. "Before we left, it wasn't here. I remember." She seemed to have gained a triumphant tone to her voice while watching Miroku's disappointment.

Miroku replied quickly, "Yes, but are you sure it didn't bloom just as we arrived?" Kagome could feel her palms starting to sweat a little. _They're talking about this as if it's valid..._

"Yes, I'm sure. Look, the petals have dew beads on them." Sango points a finger to the attention-grabbing blossom, and sure enough, there were little balls of dew clinging to each of its petals. The flower had bloomed before their return, while Inuyasha and Kagome were alone.

The schoolgirl did everything she could to keep her mind from racing. She glanced over at Shippou, who appeared to be pondering…then tentatively up at Inuyasha. The white-haired boy seemed to be ignoring the conversation entirely, a little to her relief. Her gaze returned to Miroku, who gave a heavy sigh. Her eyes darted away from her companions and searched the sky to feign nonchalance, rather than actually appreciate its beauty. She'd have liked to know what to think of this superstition, and at the same time dreaded being addressed about it. Maybe if she just stayed quiet…

Shippou suddenly scampered to the top of Miroku's head to make sure everybody could see him. He made sure to speak quite loudly, "I think that's how I was born!" The kit exclaimed, referring of course to the part about the strong son. Yes, he was entirely aware of what he was doing. He was the not-so-naive Shippou, after all.

Inuyasha scoffed from above, talking without opening his eyes. "Well then that legend must be bullshit." So he wasn't entirely ignoring what they said. Shippou's little hands were balled up in acorn-sized fists within the instant.

"What do you mean by that!" the young kitsune demanded defensively.

"I mean either you're wrong, or the legend is crap." Inuyasha's rasp of a voice was calm and casual, a rare occurrence which got under Shippou's pelt all the better. The little fox was hopping in Inuyasha's face not long after,

"Show's what you know! Most kitsune my age can't transform half as well as I do, much less hold a humanoid form like this!" He pointed one of his puny little fingers at his antagonist's nose while opening his mouth to large proportions. Inuyasha sat up, palmed Shippou's face, and pushed him off into midair. His eyes were half-lidded.

"I ain't convinced," he muttered.

Shippou's eyes grew large as he lurched to one side, tiny appendages flailing for a moment before he poofed into a floating Jigglypuff on crack and floated to a safe landing. But before Shippou could shout a challenge to Inuyasha in defense of his honor, Miroku departed from his sulking to realize the implications of when the flower budded and spoke up.

"Kagome-sama...when did the flower bloom?" he asked.

Kagome swallowed a growing knot in her throat, "Ghn...ah...well, I didn't really see it..." The focus was now on her. The pressure was on and it would only get worse from here, unless she just remained calm about it. "That is, I didn't see it open…" Gulp. "But...I remember it wasn't there...and then it was..."

Sango tapped a finger to her chin, her focus moving away from her victory over Miroku's libido for a moment. "Hm...well, if it wasn't there before we left and was a fully blossomed flower by the time we returned...then it must have happened while we were out, and you...were..." Sango's voice trailed off as she sweatdropped, realizing where this was going. Her last sentence was followed by a long, serene serenade of cricket-chirping.

As silence overtook her friends, Kagome bit her lower lip, hoping for three things: that the evening hide her blush, the crickets hide her racing heart...and Inuyasha would maintain enough skepticism to ease her creeping fears. They stopped talking about it, so hopefully it wouldn't come up again—

"AAAH, IT'S YOU TWO!" Shippou exclaimed with the volume of an unnecessarily loud fire alarm. His little fingers went pointpointpoint at both Inuyasha and Kagome. Inuyasha's ears folded themselves back in agitation while Sango put both hands behind her back and looked up at the darkened sky above, attempting to subdue a creeping smile. A glare was shot at Shippou from the tree in which the hanyou resided.

"What the hell are you screaming at, Shippou? What's 'us'?" he demanded impatiently. Kagome was not as clueless as Inuyasha. Kagome...had utterly frozen. Here eyes were large, and her irises had shrunken into her pupils.

Miroku tumbled out of his self-pity upon hearing Shippou's unnecessarily loud exclamation. "I see..."

Inuyasha's eyes started to glance back and forth. Miroku's tone made him uneasy. Those darting golden eyes had a look to them that was both suspicious and clueless. "Nande?" The hanyou's voice came out as a softer grumble rather than an accusing shout. Miroku made his way forward and signaled for Inuyasha to come down and follow him away from camp. Inuyasha hopped down from his perch with the utmost of unintentional grace. He warily stepped after the houshi...Inuyasha, just as any other member of the group, knew that look on Miroku's face. He was thinking something dirty. Something that Inuyasha probably shouldn't hear. Morbid curiosity was the only reason that he moved off with him and once again posed the question: "Alright, Miroku. What the hell are you all acting like damn idiots about?"

Kagome watched the boys move off to the side, out of hearing range. She considered stopping them...and then considered that doing so might make matters even worse. There was just no way to win here. Apprehension filled the poor girl.

Miroku put a hand on Inuyasha's shoulder. "I want you to know that I am not at all bitter that you and Kagome will have a child before Sango and I..." For some reason, the hand was very stiff. If Inuyasha were human, it would've hurt. The houshi's solemn expression was met with one of twitchy bewilderment from the hanyou. "I recommend that you do not get carried away, however, because I am sure that it will be Kagome-sama's first time, and that can be stressful for girls."

Inuyasha's eyes didn't take very long to become the size of dishpans, nor did his pupils take long to dilate. Were Miroku a man of any less composure, the anger in those dishpan-sized eyes may have given him impulse to wet himself. The hanyou's ears were not only flattened, his lip was not only twitching...but his right fist just so happened to be trembling for reasons that do not need to be stated.

"What the hells did you just say, you bastard...?" Inuyasha's voice was that low, almost quiet growl that it becomes in these sorts of situations. It's the tone he usually spoke in right before exploding.

Miroku leaned back a little, eyes half-lidded, "I know you'd like to think you won't get carried away, but it can happen in those situations...and with your inhuman strength, I really think you should endeavor to be extra careful." Inuyasha's inevitable combustion occurred as predicted.

"AND WHAT IN ALL THE HELLS HAS YOU THINKIN' THAT I'M GONNA DO ANY OF THAT DIRTY SHIT WITH KAGOME!" His bellowing rasp could be heard very easily as it echoed to camp and frightened away any sleeping animal in the vicinity. Kagome could hear that, yes. And her pupils entirely disappeared...leaving giant wobbly white amoebas surrounded by bluish-skin. Kagome's knees buckled, her thighs slapping together and feet turning outward as she crumbled to the ground, embarrassed beyond belief.

Miroku leaned forward, his tone dubious and admonishing. 'Not so loud...do you mean to say you do not know the legend?"

Inuyasha now sported a streak of red over the bridge of his nose, connecting one eye to the other. The 'I'm going to give you the worst and last beating of your perverted life' look had not left the boy's face or body language. His breathing was quick and heavy as he proclaimed, "Of course I don't know such a bullshit legend!"

Miroku closed his eyes and stood back, folding his arms. "I see. At any rate, be prepared for whatever may happen tonight..." Miroku started to talk away, but then stopped. Inuyasha was in his face and looking scary.

"If you don't tell me what the fuck you're talking about, I'll shut you up for the rest of the gods damned night."

Miroku sighed. "I already explained it, Inuyasha. The Akai netsuai hana was a flower that bloomed many years ago in the garden of a lord and princess who were not willing to accept each other. The flower's blossoming signified the true love that mysteriously blossomed between them that magical night. The son they conceived that night grew up to be a warrior prince who fought many victories for his kingdom. So you see, Inuyasha…the Akai netsuai hana only blooms between two people that share true love, and marks the night that a strong boy will be conceived." Miroku folded his arms and nodded his head very matter-of-factly.

…………………………………

Moments later Inuyasha was storming back to camp, leaving Miroku with a large lump protruding from his head. "Get the hell out of my face, sukebe bouzu!" Miroku's eye twitched as he recovered from the blow… _See if I offer you any tips..._

The obnoxiously loud sounds of leaves and twigs shattering beneath Inuyasha's bare feet served as a warning as he made way back to camp. Shippou, Sango, Kirara and Kagome each anticipated his arrival in their own ways. The enraged boy blew out a snort equivelant to that of an angry bull as he broke through the brush. All eyes were on him. Inuyasha still looked incredibly flustered, of course. His thick white mane was mussed about an overheated face, which appeared prone to twitching just as his fists were to shaking in fury.

While Inuyasha remained wrapped in anger, Kagome was just sort of sitting limply on the ground. She was busy thinking about how none of this could possibly mean anything at all because some legends are just silly and fake and not real even though almost every legend they encounter turns out to be real but this one must be fake and not real and fake RIGHT?

Inuyasha lifted his furious gaze to greet the rest of his companions. For a moment, it slipped the boy's mind that one of those companions was the girl in question. Their eyes met for a perfect second. Kagome's face downright matched the flower at that instant. Inuyasha's face _fell,_ and his gaze whipped off to the side at a speed inconceivable to most men.

…… And so the crickets did a lovely duet with the locusts.

Sango, obligated to be the mature one in this dysfunctional crowd, broke the silence. "Anou...where is Houshi-sama, Inuyasha?"

Inuyasha answered as his form became a red and silver blur, swooping back into the tree over the flower. "Hell if I know!" he rasped loudly, hiding himself amidst the foliage. Miroku emerged soon after Inuyasha, the lump still shining atop his head.

"Sango, Shippou, we should go look for lodging to the south this time, don't you think?" He suggested as he brushed some dust from his shoulder.

Kagome piped up, "Nonono! Why don't we all stay he--or Inuyasha and I could go with you guys! I mean, why split up again?"

Sango looked rather unenthusiastic about leaving the camp, especially so far after nightfall. She raised a brow at Miroku. "You want to go searching for a place _again?_ It's getting late, Houshi-sama." Miroku sighed.

"Do as you wish, Sango. I shall see you tomorrow again. I think I'll be stopping by that newly widowed maiden's place…see if I can offer her any of my help. Perhaps a little 'company' will be of comfort to her." A jolt ran through Sango's body, the likes of which it's quite certain all in her vicinity could feel. She appeared behind Miroku in an almost ghostly fashion, her frightening countenance aiding that.

"I'll go with you." She said stiffly.

Miroku felt the hairs at the back of his neck standing on end as he chuckled that lame little chuckle of his. "Very well…however, the widow does not have enough accomodations for the six of us. Inuyasha – Kagome-sama and yourself are content to be on your own tonight, am I right?" Inuyasha did not show himself, nor did he answer. But a muffled "urk!" was audible from the tree's leaves.

"N-no!" Kagome blurted. Miroku raised a brow.

"And why not?"

Kagome, terrible liar that she is, was unable to make up a good excuse fast enough. She stammered. "W-well, it seems that something bad almost always happens when we split up overnight! Can't we all just…camp out here? I mean we've done it so many times before, and that wasn't so bad, was it?" Kagome was showing more enthusiasm for sleeping out in the wild than she ever has before. "In fact, it's kind of fun isn't it?" A small cluster of sparkles seemed to have placed themselves about her head.

Miroku responded quietly, "Her husband was killed just three days ago. I really think she would rather not be alone. A few friendly faces are probably welcome right now, in fact." Kagome drooped, feeling that persisting in this would be too selfish. After all, she was an independent woman. If she didn't want anything to happen between Inuyasha and herself, then it wouldn't! She'd be fine.

"I understand," she relented softly. Miroku nodded appreciatively and took his leave, Sango not removing her eyes from him as she followed. Kirara and Shippou leapt to her left and right shoulders, respectively. A few seconds later, only their footfalls could be heard. Moments after that, they were gone.

Feeling like quite the martyr, Kagome resigned herself to her fate: A most uncomfortable evening. She'd handled more stressful situations in the past, right? ….Maybe. With knees pressed together and dainty fists rested atop them, Kagome stared at the grass. The grass was very interesting. It'd have to be very interesting for the rest of the night. But the girl couldn't help but feel a pull at the back of her head, urging her to turn around…look up, past the akai netsuai hana, into the branches of the tree…where Inuyasha was.

No. She'd resist. How hard could it possibly be to spend just a few more hours looking straight ahead, until sleep overtook her? She wasn't tired. And the tree…her eyes were being pulled to it. Turning…before she had enough collection about her, Kagome's curiosity had overtaken her. Before she knew it, her eyes had traveled up the tree's trunk. Waiting to meet her uncertain sienna gaze was an equally uncertain gaze of gold. Kagome felt her heart freeze. From the looks of it, Inuyasha felt the same. They were alone now…alone with their thoughts, and with the akai netsuai hana…it was going to be a long night.

That's the end of chapter one, and these are our footnotes.

Inuyasha: Okay, this is boring. How come I'm not kicking anyone's ass?

Kagome: …is that all you have to say about it? Personally I think it's very interesting. Downright sadistic.

Inuyasha: Keh! It'll get interesting when there's a fight. There's gonna be a fight, isn't there?

Kagome:sigh: You are utterly hopeless. If you like this chapter, please stay tuned for the next! It'll only get more interesting from here!

Inuyasha: Feh, yeah right.


	2. Chapter 2

Here are some more Japanese phrases we'll be using in this chapter that you guys may not know. If you find some that aren't listed here…well you shoulda read the freakin' notes on the first chapter, shouldn't you?

"Hai" – Yes

"Betsuni" – "It's nothing"

"Nani?" – "What?"

"itai" – Sorta like "ouch"

"Oi" – Hey

"Mou" – Sorta like 'geez"

And for the record…we say "osuwari" in place of the very stupid "sit boy".

**Blooming Love – Chapter II**

Verbal silence ensued for a good 6.34 minutes before Kagome found that she could no longer take the tension. It was like she was being held where she sat by particularly strong saran wrap. Clearing her throat, she looked around for her sack, and then stood. "Since the group split up, I don't suppose any hunting can happen now."

Inuyasha blinked from his post. Hunting...all the hotel-searching and ensuing madness had allowed his mind to ignore his stomach's pleas. Now it dawned on him that neither he nor Kagome had eaten. Food. That's the perfect excuse to completely forget any of the bullshit revolving around this "akai netsu-whatever" thing. But...he did have to talk to Kagome, and for some reason looking down to answer her was much harder than usual.

"Wh...what, you didn't bring any food in there?" He stammered, glancing at Kagome's obese yellow backpack. Kagome was already sorting through her assortment of essentials.

"Anou...I think we already at most of it.."

"What? How much is left?" Inuyasha sat up, kicking his feet over the edge of the tree's limb. It's been a rare occasion that Kagome didn't have enough with her to feed at least him. Now his stomach was starting to nag at him. "Is there anything?"

"Ahh..." Kagome shuffled about her sack a few more seconds before holding up a single cup of chicken ramen. "This is it." Inuyasha's eyes caught and locked themselves to the familiar sight of the cup, and on a very eager instinct he hopped to the ground. After a brief swoosh and rustle of fire-rat fabric, he was crouched on the grass beside her.

"Cook it."

Kagome nodded, shivering slightly because she was more than aware of his presence at her side. She wasn't as good at ignoring things as he was... At any rate, Kagome proceeds, reaching into her sack to methodically perform the sacred ritual of instant noodles. _I hope he leaves me some..._ she thought blandly between reassuring herself that the flower meant nothing.

Inuyasha's not one to stay intently focused on too many things...particularly not the rather mundane task of cooking. After Kagome had gotten her portable cooker out and had gotten to work, he started to glance around a bit. The hanyou's mind rolled over a few topics in order to keep itself occupied...how many days it's been since they've found any trace of Naraku, how much distance he planned to cover tomorrow...how long Kagome was taking to cook some damned noodles... Inuyasha let out a little sigh, and looked up to the sky for a moment. The stars continued to go unappreciated. Then his gaze fell once more, turning to his left, where Kagome was...and a very attention-grabbing red forced itself into his vision. It's that flower.

The boy's heart skipped a beat. That legend...pssh, what a heap of crap. Just because it decided to plant its ass in the ground doesn't mean that he's about to slobber all over Kagome.

...she's sitting too close. And she smells too nice.

_Damnit, Kagome...this is so freakin' stupid. Just hurry up and cook that food, already. Maybe the smell of that will start to cover... _Inuyasha's heart, unbeknownst to him as of yet, was beating faster. His propped up knee was slightly starting to bounce. Meanwhile, Kagome was counting bubbles, and doing her best to be utterly absorbed in the mundane task. If she just kept counting, she might not think about any of the things that flower had indicated. Kagome's always been able to think about multiple tasks at the same time...and for once, that gift was a curse. The counting became a background drone in her mind as the petalled predicament rolled around in the front.

_Why is he sitting so close to me? Has he really forgotten about all that? I mean, how could...then again, it's good that he's forgotten, isn't it? Then he won't do anything._

...Of course...at the same time, the idea of him having entirely dismissed the problem was a tad insulting.

"It's almost done…"

Kagome's voice breaking the all-too-long silence sent an unexpected shock through the hanyou. With a "GAK!", his body shot into a fully-upright sit, hair bristling. Gaze zipped to the girl, eyes comically wide.

"N-nani!"

Kagome was already on edge. His jolt and exclamation made her jump as well, sending her hand for a rendezvous with the portable burner. Kagome's wide eyes opened further as the heat nipped at the side of her hand. Of course, there was an audible cringe to go with the visual, followed by, "Itaiiii!"

Inuyasha's mouth hung open as his hands went up weakly in a form of protesting self-defense. "O-oi, I didn't...what the hell are you doing? Are you okay?"

Kagome nodded a little between blowing on her hand, "Hai. I just burned it a little, is all." Inuyasha bore a look of concern on his face for no more than a second after Kagome had finished her sentence. He swiftly crossed his arms through their sleeves and whipped his gaze off in the opposite direction.

"Keh! Well be more careful!"

_See, I really don't have to worry about anything happening. Not even 'destiny' could make Inuyasha half as romantic as he'd need to be to--not that that romance would make me go that far!_ Kagome had bug eyes for a moment.

"It's done."

"G-good."

This time, Kagome very carefully de-lodged the ramen from its hearth and sent it towards Inuyasha with her usual warning. "It's hot."

Inuyasha took the cup by the top, holding it carefully between his fingers. "Feh, don't need to warn me." He reached for a pair of chopsticks from Kagome's open bag.

"Nn, I already got them out." They had been sitting on her lap since the rummaging adventure. Still blowing on her burnt hand a little, she used her left hand to hold the chopsticks out to Inuyasha. Inuyasha had his first big clump of noodles shoved into his mouth before he took any notice of the fact that Kagome had no food. With a stream of them still hanging from his lips, he asked,

"Oi. You gonna eat?"

Kagome looked up in mild surprise. "Anou…are you offering to share?"

Inuyasha slurped up the rest of what was hanging from his mouth and swallowed hard. "Eh…that's not what—damnit do you have any food for yourself or not?"

She sighed. "I told you already, this is all I have."

Inuyasha groaned and rolled his eyes, then shoved the cup in her direction. He made absolutely sure not to make any eye-contact with the girl.

Kagome smiled a little, and took the cup carefully into her hands. "Arigatou." She said softly. Her smile and tone, pleasant as they were, made Inuyasha very uneasy. Glancing at her from the corner of his eye was of no help either. Where he would normally have displayed nothing more than feigned indifference after an act of kindness, now he had a large blush going over his face. Fingers tapped against his knee uneasily, which was prone to fidgeting. Now that the food was out of his hands, that unpleasant stew of feelings was letting itself be known again.

A grunted "Ehn." was his only reply.

Kagome's manners were as delicate as ever. Perhaps more so than usual. After all, she didn't want to listen to herself slurp when she was already in an embarrassing, uncomfortable situation. She doesn't realize that she just might be making herself look graceful and pretty as a result. Meanwhile, Inuyasha's pupils resembled a flickering flame as they darted about the corners of his eyes, trying to focus on anything and everything that wasn't Kagome. He kept getting drawn back, though...damnit, it's just Kagome. What the hells was making her so hard to look away from all of a sudden?

Kagome had been moderately successful in keeping her eyes off of Inuyasha. However, as she began to feel his own glances falling on her, her resolution waned. She just so happened to catch his eyes the first time she gave way to the urge to glance.

Kagome froze, mid bite. Her chopsticks are holding a small ponytail of noodles to her mouth.

Inuyasha swallowed again, this time ingesting nothing. "Jeez, what do you keep starin' over here for?"

Higurashi Kagome bit off what's in her mouth and lets the rest drop back into the cup, "Me--? Mou! This is the first time I've looked up at all! "

"Keh! The hell it is. I can feel you lookin' over here!" The boy bristled, more defensive than was usual even for him.

"Well I wasn't looking at you! I just looked up because I thought you were looking at me." Kagome seemed a tad more insisting about such a trivial matter than usual, as well.

"Then how come you were lookin' over here when I looked over there, huh?"

Kagome's eyelids lowered a little. "I could say the same for you." Her tone was flattened.

Inuyasha jerked back a little. "N-nani?" After taking a moment to blink, he leaned aggressively back in toward her. "You were the one who was lookin' first!" She wasn't prepared for him to zoom in on her this time, so she leaned back a good deal, blinking wide, flustered eyes at him.

"M-mou!" Kagome held her awkward pose, and stared at him.

…..and so a pause ensued that felt much longer than it really was. Kagome's lids suddenly lowered halfway, while her pupils shrank.

"...You're thinking something dirty, aren't you?"

Inuyasha's face instantly went beet red. She'd probably be able to feel the heat radiating from it had he not backed off with a jerk of his torso. "Wh-what the hells did you just say!" He asked, unnecessarily loudly.

"You've been thinking dirty things, haven't you?" She reiterated with a higher hint of fervor.

Inuyasha bristled when the accusation was repeated. "What's wrong with you, woman? Why would I be thinking anything dirty, eh?"

"Well, it seems like you've been acting weird since the flower appeared..."

"Keh! You think this is because of that damned flower? You're the one that's been acting weird, Kagome!"

"That's just because I'm concerned!"

"Concerned about what?" Inuyasha demanded.

"About..." Kagome heaved a big sigh, letting herself slump a little, "About all the things they said about the flower..." She looked off to the side, folding her arms a little, "I don't like it..." The girl's face had gotten rather pink by this point, and she begins to stutter a tad, "I mean...I'm not ready for anything like that at all, really. "

Inuyasha had calmed a little...just a little, when Kagome's tone eased. But as she went on, he interpreted what she was saying completely wrong, as one should expect. The poor boy felt accused.

"A-and you think I am!" He spat out, ears folded back.

"No!" She answered. "Not at all!" Kagome shook her head vigorously. She might have seemed a bit too sure of his incompetence, actually.

"Good!" Inuyasha crossed his arms roughly. "Because you'd better have it straight in your head that I'd have to be whacked off my ass to want to do anything like that with _you!_"

Kagome froze, eyelids a tad lowered and eyebrows a tad raised. "Oh. I see." Vein. Veinveinvein.

Vein-popping unnoticed, Inuyasha wasn't finished yet. Inuyasha wanted to dig himself a very deep grave, apparently. He swished his gaze in the opposite direction of both Kagome and the akai netsuai hana once again. "Especially not because some freakass flower of 'destiny' told me to!"

"Hai-hai." Kagome attempted to patronize. _He can drop it now..._

"You all must think I'm freakin' easy as hell." He scoffed. That was more than enough. Inuyasha had his face planted in the ground before he could draw another breath, and Kagome stalked a few feet away to stew silently as the dust of the impact began to settle. Inuyasha peeled his face from its bed in the dirt once said dust had settled. A large red mark had placed itself squarely over his features. That was a big one. The subdued hanyou spit a clump of soil from his mouth and whipped a furious stare over in Kagome's retreating direction. "What the hell was that for, you damned idiot!" Honestly, he really didn't know what that was for. Kagome could realize or care less. She threw the rest of the cup ramen at him. Noodles sloshed everywhere, particularly onto him…seeing as the cup itself hit him squarely on the head.

Five minutes later, Inuyasha was sitting squarely on the opposite end of the small clearing from Kagome. He was crouched in a dog-sit, sleeves and hakama cloaking his hands and feet from view. An upside-down, tattered container of cup ramen was resting atop his head, noodles hung about his ears. He didn't even seem to be aware of them there. All that seemed to be on the hanyou's mind was just how damned stupid Kagome was, and how pissed off he so justifiably happened to be. Inuyasha resembled an angry five year old all too much.

Kagome was sitting with her arms around her knees, hands balled into insulted little fists. Ooh, she never should have worried about a THING. Apparently, she was too revolting for him to even think that it might ever be possible. The stewing continued undaunted until a foreign speck of H20 scattered itself on her head. The girl ceased glaring at her grubby knees to look up at the blackened sky, and receive a raindrop right in the eye.

Inuyasha's left eyebrow gave a twitch as the first raindrop penetrated his poof of bangs. _Stupid Kagome._ It gave another twitch as the second drop plunked onto his ear. _She's worried about somethin' happening, I tell her what she wants to hear... _Yet another as two more patted onto the back of his head and other ear. _...and she freaks out. What the hell is wrong with her?_

A sinking feeling crawled into Kagome's lap as the drops began to rain down on a parade that had been crashed a good thirty minutes ago. The world was bleak and ugly. And Inuyasha was still a jerk. _Now we're just going to sit like this and get wet the rest of the night, I guess..._

The jerk's eyes rolled upward as the few drops plinking here and there evolved into a steady stream of rain. Raining...he hadn't even noticed the clouds gathering over the stars, or the heavy, humid scent of storm clouds in the air. He'd been too focused on his anger. Inuyasha hunched his shoulders a little and stubbornly flattened his ears as the downpour started to pick up. Sudden and strong...this was indeed a thunderstorm. But that wasn't going to make him move for shelter near the tree or the flower or the girl, nope. He'd show them all that he was made of tougher stuff than that.

Meanwhile, Kagome's anger was being washed away with the rain. The rain was a soft distraction that pulled her away from her anger and set her at a neutralized point of view from which to review recent events. _He overdid it, but...Maybe that's because he didn't want me to worry anymore. He's always stupid about what to say, after all...Maybe I was a little too hard on him, just now._

The boy that was the focus of Kagome's thoughts continued to display his back to the girl for a while longer...that is, until something finally possessed him to glance over his shoulder. Kagome was staring at the ground...not looking angry anymore. She looked...pensive. Almost sad. And she was getting soaked. He hadn't even considered her getting wet. Returning his head to facing forward, Inuyasha let out a heavy sigh.

Kagome unfolded her arms and leaned back, letting her hands splash into the wet grass behind her. Tilting her head back, she let the rain fall on her face. She was going to make the most of this. The rain was actually...refreshing, when she looked at it this way. Kagome didn't have long to appreciate it, though. A coarse, heavy fabric was suddenly felt draping carefully over her shoulders. Though the outside of the cloth was wet, the inner-side was dry, and very warm. Her hanyou companion was full of rude surprises, it seemed. The girl hardly even jumped, because the surprising gesture was so carefully executed. A tad bewildered, Kagome partially turned around to look up at Inuyasha, who was now getting truly soaked as well.

…..

Kagome smiled. It was a pretty smile. "Arigatou." Inuyasha cast his eyes to the dripping leaves that formed the walls of their clearing. He lifted one arm to scratch at the back of his head, and kept his eyes closed...as if it would disguise the light blush starting to form upon his cheeks once again.

"Keh." His voice was a soft grumble. "Not like I can't handle gettin' wet." Inuyasha bended one leg and sat himself a few inches from the girl, crossing his much less heavily-cloaked arms. Kagome had more than forgiven him by this point. His most recent behavior earned many points. Still smiling warmly...and perhaps blushing, she scooted herself over a couple inches and carefully lifted the haori up over her head, and then his. Clearly, she intended to drape it over him as well. Inuyasha's heart gave a skip for what was at least the fifth time that night. Kagome's creeping warmth actually felt...really good, right now. And this seemed to be one of those rare instances where that really didn't bother him. He allowed her to hang his robe over both their heads. Fully opened it was able to cover the lengths of both their shoulders, his sleeves providing a decent guard from the wind. Comfortable as this may have felt, the poor hanyou now found it more difficult than it had been all night to obey his desire to look the girl in the face. Eyes darted about uneasily, killing time while the boy pondered saying something to her or not. When leaned upon, the gruff hanyou gave an audible gulp. Surprisingly this act caused him to turn his head to Kagome quite quickly, his gaze falling upon the top of her hair.

"...you're not still pissed off?"

"No, not anymore." She answered cheerfully.

Inuyasha asked no further of the girl's mood, figuring that to be the wisest way. "Good..." he mumbled out, seconds prior to a rather powerful gale blowing from the left side of the pair. For a good few moments they were pegged with hard raindrops and lashed with cold wind. Kagome instinctively curled in on herself and leaned away from the onslaught. As a result, she was looking quite cute and leaning into Inuyasha's chest at the same time. A couple of self-conscious blinks after the gust died, Kagome found herself blushing a good deal. Due to all the times he's snatched her up out of harms way, Kagome usually wouldn't think anything of her head's current location. This time, the flower glowed above their heads, still emanating an unnerving prophecy. Her whole body went stiff.

Inuyasha was usually more awkward in situations where Kagome was so close to him, aside from moments of intense danger. It always took a lot more for him to dare stretch his arm around her than for her to lean against his shoulder. The lack of his outer haori only enhanced the feeling of her against him. Needless to say, Inuyasha's body became very stiff as well.

…..

After another awkward silence, the hanyou glanced away, peering off at the falling rain. "Woulda been a nice night to go with Miroku, eh?" He said softly, starting to feel too uncomfortable letting his feelings swim around in silence.Kagome began to slowly remove the side of her face from his chest, half-disguising her escape as a nod. She wanted to look casual, yes. Too bad he could probably feel the heat emanating from her face.

"Nnn, Hai. I guess we should have started looking for lodging earlier..."

As soft, distant thunder rumbled from not too far off, the boy closed his eyes and blew out a sigh, which was hopefully covered by the sounds of the rain. Taking his eyes off of her didn't ease his tension very much. Against the sudden cold of the weather, her warmthwas most poignant...as was her scent, enhanced by the wetness. And her voice was soft, and calming. The best way for Inuyasha to keep himself distracted was to keep talking.

"You...won't get very wet, under that. It does a pretty good job against the rain..." His voice was low.

Kagome smiled, laughing slightly, "Hai...it generally does a pretty good job against everything, doesn't it?" A pause. "…thanks again, for letting me use it."

"Yeah, well...it's not like-- rrn." His turn to pause. "Didn't wanna hear you complain tomorrow mornin'."

"I know." She smiled to herself.

"Sure is lastin' a while, ain't it?" Inuyasha's head looked straight ahead and slightly upward...turning back in her direction just a bit.

"Not really...it just started a few minutes ago..."

"EH...well, these things always seemed to last too long to me!"

Kagome couldn't help but chuckle at that. _Yes, to you. _Her pretty laugh complimented the patter of the rain...ringing through the night softly. He could feel his blush start to rise again.

"What's so funny about it?" He said, voice rising a little. Not too much, but just in a slightly defensive way. Enough to make him seem a little cute to her.

Her answer was a bit playful. "Betsuniii!" That tone has sometimes been successful at egging him on. This was one of those instances.

"Tell me what you're laughin' at, Kagome. You think the things I don't like are funny?"

"Nothing, really!" _I'm not going to even try explaining it to him_. "I'm just in a good mood now, that's all." Kagome explained with a sigh and a smile as she gazed off into rain she could hardly see. The mental threat of the flower was starting to wear thin, finally...

Inuyasha didn't appear satisfied with her answer, but neither did he persist. Instead he blinked at her sort of unexpected response.

"You're...in a good mood?"

Kagome nodded to the rain, and then turned her head to smile at him. "Hai." Her smile drew him in. He was looking down at her before he could stop himself.

"Well...good. I was thinkin' that you were still all worked up over that...stupid flower."

Kagome closed her eyes briefly to shake her head, "No...I'm not worried about it anymore..."

"Yeah." He said in a grumbly, still slightly awkward voice. "That was a load of crap."

"Nn...probably so..." _And yet...there might be something to it. It's given us a chance to show how we feel, a little bit, hasn't it? Maybe it did that for others...but to greater degrees. That could be how it earned a 'reputation" like that..._ Kagome's eyes drifted aimlessly around Inuyasha's hair and shoulders as these analytical musings ran through her head. Inuyasha was still watching her while her eyes were roaming him. His level of tension was starting to rise simultaneously with a wave of warmth and calm. The two feelings battled each other within. Those droplets clinging to her bangs...falling off delicately and dripping to her knees...it was making her look very pretty.

"Of...of course it is."

Her eyes ran up his hair, over his ears, down his bangs, crossed his temple...and then met his own eyes. They were instantly locked there. She encountered an unanticipated rise in heart rate as she realized that she couldn't look away. Inuyasha caught his breath in his throat as he felt the painless sting of the girl's eyes locking in place with his. Their dark brown shade suddenly appeared very deep...her scent enticing. His breathing was starting to shorten and quicken, his ears were slowly beginning to droop.

Now there was a good deal of sentiment in her eyes...because there was a good deal of sentiment in his. Inuyasha was always playing casual, as if feelings were something foreign to him. But right now...she could see them in his eyes No...she could not look away from something so rare, so beautiful, so real...and so ephemeral. No, she was going to hold, treasure, and reciprocate it as long as the world about her would allow.

That something that appeared so real in the boy's eyes was there because he had only felt like this a few times before, in his life...and those times had been with Kikyou...or more recently, with Kagome. As of now, only she could bring this out in him. Only she could draw him in so close, that his conscious probably didn't even notice that his head was leaning closer. In fact, the same gravity seemed to affect her. Or rather, it was magnetism. At any rate, she could soon feel his breath on her face, and vice versa. His mind didn't even have the capacity to react to her warm breaths blowing onto his skin. Something deeper was controlling him now. It was making him close his eyes. Kagome's eyes were not only closing with his, but her hands were starting to move forward to rest on his chest.

The rain pattering on the fire-rat skin and their legs went unnoticed. So did the flower that glowed softly, directly above the point at which there lips were about to meet.

Footnotes – (This is where scenes of the next chapter would be playing over the voices, if this were on tv…with the 'next time on Inuyasha' theme music.)

Kagome: You probably want to kill us now. ;

Inuyasha: Rrn? Why would they want to kill us?

Kagome: Because we're leaving off at a really big cliffhanger! Most of our readers are romantic fangirls.

Inuyasha: Keh! You call that a cliffhanger? I don't see any cliffs, _or _any action.

Kagome:sigh: I'm not going to try to explain this to you, either.

Inuyasha: Fine! Those brats want a fight, bring 'em on!

Kagome:blank stare:

Inuyasha: …what?

Kagome: Never mind…keep posted for the third and final chapter, everyone! And don't forget to check out nillia. to see illustrations of this fic! Don't miss it!


	3. Chapter 3

Once again, some Japanese words that not all of you may know. Check previous chapters for other words.

Oi – Hey

Gomen - Sorry

Han – A suffix used at the end of someone's name, like san or chan. If anyone could tell us what cases this is usually used in, we'd appreciate it.

Doushite – Why?

Nanda? – What? (Made a typo with this one in ch 1)

Anata – More than one meaning, but in this case it sorta means "dear". It's what a woman would call her husband.

Hakama – Those big poofy pant-like things that Kikyou wears. It's the closest word we could come up with for Inuyasha's pants.

Haori – A haori is an outer kimono jacket. Technically not what Inuyasha's robe is, but it's the word we've grown accustomed to using.

Jiji, or ji-chan – Ways to address an old man, in this case. Jiji is the way Inuyasha says it, which is more crude. Kagome uses the second way.

Baba, or ba-chan – Same thing as the above, only for an old woman.

**Blooming Love – Chapter 3**

CRACK! The eardrums of both youths were pierced painfully as an ominous crackling sound erupted into a furious explosion, shaking the leaves around them. A white hot bolt from the sky clashed violently with the ground just twenty feet away from the pair, striking a tree and splitting it down the middle, leaving only charred remains in its wake. The storm was directly overhead. Kagome's eyes shot open blindly. Her mouth shot open as well, but proved to be working much more effectively. She produced quite a shriek to compliment the rumble of the thunder that jolted into her ears and through her body. Her head automatically lowered itself to Inuyasha's shoulder, her hands clutching his shirt. Inuyasha got a respective jolt through his body, as well as his poor, sensitive ears with the combined lightning strike and female scream. But despite the pain ringing in his hearing, the boy's first instinctive reaction to such a succession of sounds was to protect Kagome. Arms went about her instantly and hugged the girl closely to his chest, one hand holding the back of her head while he bared his teeth to the source of the disruption.

Inuyasha realized only three seconds later that there was no attack, only nature bringing her fury down upon the fizzled tree in the not-so-far distance. Kagome slowly turned her head from his shoulder to look off towards the source of the sound.

"...That lightning was close..."

Inuyasha nodded a bit tentatively, refraining from taking his eyes off of the tree. It took him nearly half a minute more to realize that Kagome was being hugged tightly against his body...that his arms were holding her...and...what had just happened a moment ago.

…….

Kagome was not thinking about anything other than the fact that the lighting had struck very close, and that she was very glad it hadn't hit them. Then embarrassment took out a military trumpet to alert Kagome to her position. Her brain became a frenzy of activity. At the same instance Inuyasha's arms immediately loosened themselves from the girl, whipping panickedly back to his sides. His entire torso jerked backward as he voiced a sharp rasp of shock. Nearly as quick as the lightning that had just struck, Inuyasha twisted himself around, turning his back to the girl that was just as bewildered as he, as to hide the crimson invading his furiously freaked-out features. Kagome whirled around as soon as his arms left her, a red tint burning on her cheeks.

_Oh, that did not just happen. ...But it did! We almost...he...was the flower really--really doing something? I mean, is that possible, or were we just responding subconsciously to the suggestion that it might happen? Yes, subconscious power of suggestion, that's all it is. So, so if I make sure to keep my mind firmly in the right place, we should be fine..yes…_

She didn't feel very reassured yet, despite the logic she tried to run through the fears in her mind. Inuyasha kept his body firmly in place, meanwhile. As if almost terrified to turn around and face Kagome OR the flower now, his form was stiff as a glass window...one that might shatter violently if given the slightest touch. The hanyou's expression was wild and panicked. His eyes couldn't keep still, couldn't keep themselves from shifting from left to right.

Kagome took a moment to realize that, in their sudden movement, the haori had fallen off of her head, and his as well. Cool rain was pattering down on hair that had started to dry.  
_I can't just...sit like that again.. _Inuyasha himself didn't notice that the haori had begun to slip off of his own head until a few more pats of rain fell upon the tips of his ears. A perfectly logical assumption that Kagome must also be exposed to the weather once more occurred to him. The hanyou shifted uneasily where he sat, the urge to cover her and the force holding him stiffly in place battling fiercely with each other.

Kagome had an easier time of it. Slightly. She tentatively turned her head to glance over her shoulder. _He's getting wet now too. _The girl closed her eyes and bit her lower lip. She then took in a breath and held it as she turned herself around, gathering the haori. Quickly, and a bit clumsily she scooted just close enough to put it back over the two of them.

"It, anou, fell off." She spoke softly.

Inuyasha could feel the tiny hairs all over his body stand at full attention once they sensed Kagome moving again. An unpleasant shiver accompanied that, and he reacted with a shout.

"AH...yeah! It did." Inuyasha cleared his throat, allowing the girl to place the robe back over him, but not even attempting to turn and look at her. Kagome made no effort to face him either. Dismayed with the uncomfortable situation at hand, the girl caught herself thinking, _If that lightning hadn't struck, we wouldn't be stuck like this._ A second later Kagome was ardently admonishing herself. _That would have been bad! What if it had gone further, like that flower predicted! We weren't in a normal state of mind, and I shouldn't hope for it under these circumstances!_

Inuyasha allowed a few minutes more of one of the most agonizingly annoying silences of his life to pass before finally breaking it. "I told you these things last too damn long!" He was acting like their previous encounter had never happened...and it was most likely that that was how he would continue to act. Kagome didn't answer. Instead, she rested her chin on her knees, and glumly thought that he might be right.

Meanwhile, past the outreaches of the forest and tucked away under a mat in the safety of the young widow's home, Sango opened an eye. That last blast of thunder had been rather loud, and now she and Kirara were both awake. She rolled over and glanced over the edge of her futon, checking to see if there was any light coming from the widow's room. Last she had known, everyone in the home had gone to sleep...but she didn't trust Miroku. At this very moment, he could be in there with the widow...

Fortunately, Miroku had already attempted advances on the widow, and had failed. He could be found sulking off to the side of the hut, mentally asking why fate dangled two women in front of him and then snatched them away. Sango's eyes found him, and rested there for a moment. He was still awake. She sighed inwardly...he must have been turned down. Briefly, the taijiya attempted to return to sleep, but for reasons unknown her mind was very restless. Finally, with another glance to the monk, she spoke out to him in as platonic a voice as possible.

"Houshi-sama, you're still awake?"

Shippou had also been jolted awake by the lightning. After the initial little jump, he sat there blinking groggily. Miroku sighed from the corner.

"Hai, Sango," Once Miroku spoke, Shippou began to listen, naturally.

"You haven't been awake all night, have you?" The girl asked, rubbing some sleep from her eye.

Miroku smirked, turning his head towards the girl. "Hai."

Shippou piped up groggily, rubbing his eyes, "He's probably thinking about Inuyasha and Kagome." Sango's features shifted into mild concern at the mention of her absent friends.

"That's right...I wonder if they're doing alright." There was a moment of uncomfortable silence.

"Do you think they did it yet?" Shippou asked. Sango's eyes temporarily became the size of baseballs. She turned to the kitsune, looking a little more surprised than she probably should've.

"Shippou!" The girl chided.

Miroku replied before Shippou could defend himself, "I doubt it, actually." His words carried a snide tone.

"Why?" Shippou asked. Miroku smiled sardonically,

"If anybody could thwart the flower, and deny its gift, it's those two." Sango tapped a finger to her chin absently, eyelids hanging a little.

"Mmn, you're right. Kagome-chan really isn't that kind of girl."

"And Inuyasha is too stupid," Miroku murmured to himself. The taijiya sighed flatly. Yet another all-too-pathetic truth. She didn't know whether to feel glad that her love-forsaken friend finally had some time alone with the man she loved, or just feel sorry that she'd left her alone with an idiot.

"Maybe it was too cruel of us to leave them alone like that..." Casting her eyes to the rain, another thing occurred to Sango. "It's been raining for a while now...do you think that the two of them are alright out there?" Miroku leaned his head back against the wall and closed his eyes.

"We do not know for sure what they are doing at this point. There is still a chance that they may be in the midst of private endeavors as we speak." Sango gave Miroku an odd look. Simply the thought of imagining her friends in...such a situation...was enough to make her start blushing.

"Why are you saying that, all of a sudden?" She asked a tad uneasily.

"Well, you asked if we should go get them, and that is why such a course of action might be unwise." Miroku answered calmly.

"But you were just talking about how unlikely it is!" Sango protested.

"I did not say anything was certain."

"It's soaking wet outside. If I were in Kagome-chan's position now, I would just want to find shelter and get to sleep." She stated, doing her best to counter Miroku's one-track assumptions.

"The flower isn't affecting you right now though, Sango." A trace of disappointment might have been evident in Miroku's tone. Sango urked a little.

"You really think..?"

"With the flower there, we cannot be sure."

Silence.

"...So how far do you think they've gotten?" Shippou asked.

That begot a large blink on Sango's behalf. "Sh-Shippou..."

"Probably still just idly cuddling." Miroku replied.

Silence...

"I hope it works. Then I could be his big brother, and teach him everything I know!"

Sango vigorously shook her head. "Mou, that's enough you two! Kagome-chan and Inuyasha just aren't the types who would let themselves go like that. For all we know they've been sitting silently by that tree all night."

Kagome and Inuyasha were in fact doing just that...and as far as either of them was concerned, their activities would consist of no more than miserably sitting there for the rest of the night. Inuyasha's ears hung low, as if they were being crushed by the weight of what had become a 20 minute silence. He couldn't sleep, and he couldn't have any peace knowing Kagome was awake...not after what had just happened. The hanyou clenched his eyes shut and dug his claws into the soil below. This was so frustrating...of all nights for it to rain, for him to be left alone with her! He couldn't even look at her...if he looked, he might see what had started to pull him in before... But this was turning out to be just as unpleasant. Kagome was just as afraid to look at him, and yet just as dissatisfied with the current estrangement. Just as she had the first time, Kagome eventually found herself venturing into some idle conversation.

"I remember that I used to love it when it rained like this." She remarked. The boy's pointed ears picked up at the sound of her voice. Whether it was out of alertness or relief, we'll never know... Without turning to her, he asked,

"What?"

"When I was little, I loved the rain, " Kagome reiterated, trying her best to absorb herself in the memories rather than the current discomfort. "I used to dance in it whenever my parents let me." A smirk and a snicker fought their way to escape onto the hanyou's face. His tense shoulders relaxed a little.

"You danced in it?" His tone helped to relax her a little more,

"Nn...I'd twirl around and skip with endless energy. I didn't care that I was wet back then." Inuyasha's eyes lowered themselves a little.

"S'funny...I never liked goin' out in the rain that much."

"Oh? I'd have thought you were impartial to it."

"Pff, it doesn't matter much now. But when I was a kid, it wasn't much fun." Inuyasha's eyes became unfocused. He was now looking directly ahead of himself, across the clearing...unwittingly allowing Kagome to see his face, and to see that he wasn't really looking at the brush ahead. He was watching ghosts of the past, one in particular...one that huddled inside a hollow tree trunk, rain pouring in heaps around it. As the next ring of thunder pounded itself through the clouds, his mind watched that ghostly past version of himself crouch and snarl at the sky, startled by the noise. But as he realized that the thunder was only the sound of the sky, not the bellow of another murderous youkai...and that no one was there to protect him from either...the young Inuyasha retreated further inside his hiding place and curled tightly, eyes watching the outside intently. His mother never had liked it when he went out into the rain alone...

Kagome's eyes quickly caught the chance to see his face, and seized it before she could tell them to do otherwise. Her smile faded as she did...for it was now more than obvious that his distaste for the rain fell to more than just a past annoyance...

A hardly audible sigh just may have escaped the hanyou's perplexing features. Kagome's brow was knit with sympathy.

"Inuyasha..."

The girl's voice snapped Inuyasha out of his trance, and he turned to her. His face had returned to normal, once again as if nothing out of the ordinary had just happened.

"Nanda?"

Kagome decided that it was best not to pursue whatever memory he had just relived. She shook her head,

"Nn, betsuni."

Inuyasha dismissed her inquiry, a rare occurrence. He had certainly mellowed through the course of the night.

"This ain't the same as when we were kids, eh?" He commented, glancing toward the sky.

"Hnn...I guess not, " Kagome replied, waxing philosophically, "I guess we went through a reversal of sorts. You didn't like the rain, but now you don't mind it. I used to love the rain, and now I'd rather not get wet..."

"Things change." He added simply.

"Hai... They sure do..." The girl began to smile as she leaned back against Inuyasha. Poor Inuyasha had been enjoying the relaxed state his body had found. Now it went completely stiff, yet again.

"E-...eh?"

"It's really cozy under here..." Kagome crooned, "Dry, warm...closed off from the rest of the world..." Kagome's voice was soft…amorous.

…….

Inuyasha leaned away a little, his eyes now wide as sweat formed on his brow.

"Wh...what are you--"

She giggled, "What are you acting so nervous for?"

"Why are YOU acting so weird all of a sudden?" He demanded, a shake in his voice. Kagome started to let her arms creep around him. Inuyasha clumsily jerked back, to no avail.

"Ka-Kagome!" His voice cracked.

"There's nowhere to run now...and you know it." Kagome purred, pressing herself against the perplexed boy. Through the two drenched shirts and bra, he could feel little nubs protruding from the center of each breast...which so happened to be pressing against him as well.   
Inuyasha's face illuminated in a manner all-too-similar to the flower hanging above them both. He stumbled backward in an attempt to get up, but only wound up falling onto his back. The mass of white hair behind him cushioned his head, but there was no protection from Kagome's advances. Scrambling to push both his and her torsos off of the ground, his hands slipped on the wet grass. Little did the poor hanyou notice the skies clearing as he continued to stutter immeasurably.

"O-oi, what the hell is wrong with you? Snap out of it, Kagome!" His voice continued to crack through his next two sentences.

"This rain...and this wonderful flower...they were a blessing..." Kagome explained gently as she laid there on top of him. An inebriated smile played across her face. Inuyasha froze for a moment upon looking at her face, while her jet hair fell all about him. He was either too panicked or just too stricken by his position to notice the odd look of her eyes.

"Are you crazy?" He practically squeaked.

"You cannot avoid our destiny any longer, A-na-taaa," she said in a sing song voice as her hands rubbed over his chest and sides. Inuyasha shut his eyes tightly and jerked his head as far away from her as it would go...which wasn't very far. As he was prone to doing in these rare instances of sexual-tension-induced-emotional panic, The boy did not use the force he so easily could have in order to push her away. Instead he protested in a raspy cry,

"No, don't!" Kagome's hands continued to rove his torso, and eventually made their way down to his hip...and then his pelvis. At this point she paused, and then grinned triumphantly. The girl began to sit up...and push back. Inuyasha didn't get more than a second of relief, however, because an instant later she was leaning over his hakama to undo them.

"I've got you now," she chirped, licking her lips. Inuyasha's muscles became tense as a balloon about to be popped. His heart felt like it stopped beating for at least two seconds, and his eyes' size overtook most of his face, which was gathering enough sweat to match the finished rainstorm.

"S...s...stop it, Kagome!" He creaked out, hand finally darting out to grab her wrist... Kagome's seduced expression suddenly changed to immeasurable anger.

'How DARE you try to stop me! I will not allow it!" And with her free hand, she slapped him. The stricken hanyou blinked rapidly in response to the sting on his cheek, finding that his eyelids were the only part of him able to move quickly after such a shock.

"What the...did you just HIT me?" Inuyasha gave no notice to the bouncy little squeak sound emitting from his hakama, which then lead off into the grass.

Kagome was a vision of fury and sadness. She pushed Inuyasha away violently, snatched his haori, and ran with it,

"You idiot! You've ruined our chance to be together!"

…..

Inuyasha stared after the retreating Kagome as if she'd grown a cow's head from her rump. "You idiot!" she repeated more loudly, sounding on the verge of tears. Inuyasha sat up, leaves and blades of grass sticking in and out of his hair. The hanyou looked as frazzled as might be possible as he stared bewilderedly off at Kagome, sweatdropping and twitching.

"Oi..."

Kagome then ran into a tree. It was quite an impact, too, giving a crack comparable to thunder.

"Shit! Kagome!" Inuyasha leapt to his feet and then to her side, kneeling by the girl's crumpled body. With a hand on her shoulder, he shook her back and forth carefully. "Kagome! Kagome!"

Kagome popped up like a rake somebody had stepped on.

"Let GO of me!" The girl wrestled herself away from the tentative hanyou as quickly as she could, and then began to claw her way up the tree with surprising agility. Inuyasha didn't leap up after her, rather stared upward with bowl-sized eyes and downturned brows.

"...what the hell." On the tree's trunk, Kagome was sobbing and desperately shredding bark off in her attempts to scale it.

"Anata, why do you risk your life just to avoid me!" She cried. Inuyasha's vision just happened to catch sight of a familiar bouncing dot making its way up the tree as he followed Kagome with his eyes. He also recognized the faint, elderly voice that cried out in protest,

"Why can't you just leave me to my freedom?"

……..

Inuyasha twitched. He made a bound for the next limb of the tree that he saw the dot heading for. In a flash he was perched upon it, open palm lashing out to catch the fleeing object and hold it in a fist. Inuyasha growled as he gave his hand a good squeeze, then opened his palm. There, flattened as thoroughly as a sheet of parchment, was Myouga. The hanyou spoke in a low, threatening growl.

"What have you done, Myouga-jiji?" Myouga regained his three-dimensional form in the next moment, lifting one of his stubby little arms to rub at his bulbous head. It didn't take long for the flea to notice just what sort of a predicament he was in now...Inuyasha looked pissed.

"A-ah! Inuyasha-sama! Imagine running into you on such a gloomy ni-"

"Cut the CRAP, you puny old bastard." The boy snarled. His eyebrow was at a dangerous twitch. Kagome stared up at Inuyasha, her face brimming with a number of intense emotions. Inuyasha pinched the tiny collar of the flea's shirt between his fingers and dangled him menacingly in the air. "That's your damn fiancé down there, isn't it?" Myouga blinked down at the clinging schoolgirl, bug-eyes staring at an adversary only he could see at the moment. Fear flooded his little flea features, and he began to struggle.

"Honestly, Inuyasha-sama! I do not know what you're talking about! I was merely trying to find shelter from the rain tonight, and..."

A tan dot pelted furiously from under the haori Kagome had been holding over her head. "Myouga-haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaan!" it bellowed in surprising volume. It was indeed the female flea Shouga, who then released Kagome from her spell. At that point, Kagome blinked twice, and was quite shocked to find herself ten feet up a tree trunk, hugging it like a koala. Her eyes became little dots, and her mouth elongated into a squiggle that dripped off of her face.

"W-what's going on!" The poor, confused girl yelped. After all, those possessed by Shouga have no memory of what they did while under her possession.

Myouga's futile struggling became more intense, tears starting to form at his oversized eyes. "I beg of you Inuyasha-sama, release me!"

"Not on your life, jiji." Inuyasha spoke menacingly. He closed his fist around Myouga once more, allowing only his tiny little head to pop out. The flea gulped. "Now tell me what the HELL is going on here." The hanyou felt a slight tickle on his knuckle as the large female flea landed there to fume and sob at close quarters to her reluctant lover. Her own saucer eyes were brimming with raindrop-sized tears...(which makes one wonder how or why these fleas were so intimidated by rain in the first place)

"Myouga-han, doushite...Doushite?"

Inuyasha's hand could hardly feel the squirming and kicking of six little flea legs against his skin.

"A-ah, there's really nothing to explain, Inuyasha-sama! I don't even know how she was able to catch up w-...er, find me this evening! I was simply relaxing in a nearby spring, completely on my own, when it started to rain! I fled, and was fortunate enough to cross paths with you and Kagome, and so I sought shelter within the safety of your comfortable clothing!" Myouga's tone indicated that his reasons for 'relaxing' in the spring may not have been entirely moral. Meanwhile Kagome was listening, and doing her best not to fall. Now that she was of her own mind, the love-struck adrenaline was gone, and it was very hard to keep holding herself on the tree like that...particularly with the bark scraping itself into her legs. Shouga began filling in the blanks to Myouga's story.

"Myouga-han, you were fraternizing with those shameless hussies...but when you lead me here, to the akai netsuai hana, I knew that you were sorry, and that our destiny would be fulfilled! I thought...Myouga-HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAN. " At that point the old woman began to hit Myouga on the head with all four arms. Inuyasha did nothing to save the old flea from the barrage of the female. With large tears still clinging to the edges of his eyes, Myouga attempted to protest.

"I honestly didn't know that the akai netsuai hana was even growing here! It means nothing!" Inuyasha's grip only tightened. Now that everything was explained…he was _angry_.

"So, that weird shit that was happening to us...was because of _you?_"

Myouga gulped. "I-I didn't possess anyone, Inuyasha-sama...I was merely attempting to save myself...oh please have mercy, my lord!" He begged pathetically. "Understand my plight, as a man!"

On the trunk, poor Kagome was slipping, and scraping up her legs. In fact, the bark was snagging her wet shirt a bit, too. "Inuyasha..." she gulped as her butt sagged below her feet, and sent her scraping down another couple inches.

Shouga's physical reprimands became slower and weaker, as she began crying more heavily. Inuyasha's hand was soaked. "Myouga-haaaan...I'm never going to forgive youu-h00-hooo..." Inuyasha twitched, his eyes comically wide with a frustration that had been waiting for any kind of release all night. And what better form of release than abusing someone?

"Oh, I understand..." He growled lowly. Myouga looked up hopefully. "That this whole damn situation is YOUR FAULT!" Inuyasha's voice rose to a bellow as he stood up on the limb, wound his arm up a few times, and chucked Myouga far off into the forest.

"How cruel!" The flea cried as he disappeared into the distance. Shouga let out a squeak, and bit Inuyasha briefly to show that she wasn't happy that he threw Myouga so far away from her.

"Bakaaa! You're just giving him a head start!" And still crying, she hopped off in pursuit of a man that wasn't worth her time. Inuyasha gave his hand a shake in response to the mild itch, but crossed his arms immediately after and scoffed.

"Keh!"

Kagome could feel the insides of her thighs scraping open a little more as gravity lurched her downward another two inches. Hugging the tree as tightly as she could, she reiterated, "Inuyasha!" The hanyou's proud pose didn't hold up when Kagome's voice alerted him to the fact that he'd completely forgotten about her.

"ACK, shit!" In a flash, he bolted to the ground below her and held his arms out for a catch. "Here, Kagome!" _Finally_! She couldn't help but think as she let pushed away from the tree and let herself fall. Inuyasha's arms were solid and firm as the girl plopped into them, bringing down a small rain of wet tree bark with her. He gave her frazzled face an awkward look before loosening his grip and allowing her to regain her footing. Kagome's facial expression was a mixture between, "What took you so long?" "Thank you," and "Shouga-bachan possessed me, didn't she?" He could probably smell a tid-bit of blood. The bark had actually scratched into a few minor blood vessels near the top layers of her skin, particularly around her inner thighs. Inuyasha took just a little longer than one would expect to actually say something. Uneasily, he scratched at the back of his own head.

"So, you...you were actin' weird because of Shouga-baba, huh?" His voice had once again resorted itself to that soft, low grumble. Kagome sighed heavily, making a few gestures before folding her arms,

"Well...ah...I guess!" she presumed in frustration. "I mean...I don't remember how I got on the tree at all..." A pause. "...What did I do?"

Inuyasha went beet red. "Ah...ah-ah-ah..." His head jerked as he attempted to cough up a sentence.

…..

"N-nothing. You were just actin' weird." The boy cleared his throat and lowered his head, attempting to regain some air of seriousness. Kagome could already feel a flush of embarrassment and frustration rising in her cheeks as she contemplated how bad her unintentional actions might have seemed.

"W-well...whatever happened...you know that I didn't mean to. So you can just forget it...h-hai?" She asked with a stutter. Inuyasha nodded vigorously.

"N-nn..." He voiced in agreement. Though an incident of that caliber would probably never be erased from his memory, it was a relief to even pretend to forget about it. It still disturbed Kagome to have no idea what she did...but it also occurred to her that she might not want to know. Besides...Inuyasha clearly didn't want to say anything...She stood there, drawing a random squiggle in the grass with the toe of her shoe.

Inuyasha's eyes wandered impatiently while his mind attempted in a very half-assed manner to think of what to do now. While roaming, his vision caught sight of the flower again. Eyes shut in dismay. He didn't want to look at the damn thing. Glancing upward, the hanyou filled his golden eyes with the sky. The clouds had nearly entirely dissipated. The hanyou's body slumped against the trunk of the tree, and he slid downward into an exhausted sit. "Damn...that was fuckin' unbelievable." He said with an exasperated sigh. Kagome was tired as well...and seeing the energetic Inuyasha sit down in fatigue only multiplied her own. As a result, she followed suit quickly. _How late is it...?_ she wondered as she stared up at the sky. Despite herself...despite the huge fiasco...she couldn't help but note how pretty it was.

"The sky really is nice here..." she said, hardly remembering that they'd had nearly the same conversation before.

Inuyasha could only sigh out an agreement, not really wanting to converse about surroundings. He opened his mouth and yawned, stretching his arms out. He'd gone many a night without a wink of sleep, without problems...but for some reason now, he was tired. Perhaps it was the way his brain had been wracked tonight...

"So all that shit...was really because of Shouga-baba. Not because of the flower, or..." He didn't finish his sentence, rather he let it trail off into an abyss of discomfort. Before the lightning had hit...he wasn't possessed by Myouga. He wasn't possessed by anything, as far as he knew. And Kagome hadn't lost her memory of what almost happened between them under his haori, either. ...but it had to be because of the fleas somehow. It couldn't be anything else.

Without thinking about much of anything, Kagome was letting herself lay back in the grass, a hazing portrait of the stars blanketing her until her eyelids closed under it. Kagome was lucky...her human fatigue had whisked her away to slumber before Inuyasha, rather than letting her contemplate the evening's events any further. It was doubly unlucky for Inuyasha, though. Not only did his endurance force him to continue thinking about the evening's events...his open eyes let him see how pretty the girl looked, lying there peacefully in the moonlight. She was so delicate...so vulnerable to the world, and yet she was always just out here with him. She didn't have any trouble falling asleep in the wild, so long as she was near him.

Inuyasha's ears caught the sounds of her steady, even breaths after a while. She was asleep. He took a moment to look over her. Something...something inside him suddenly felt warm...pleasant. With a heavy sigh, he leaned over and lifted the girl by her shoulders, propping her up and letting her lean against his front. The boy looked over her entrancing features a moment longer, then shut his eyes...not wanting his feelings to tug at him any longer. The night would be over soon enough, and he could stay awake through it...but now that his lids were closed, they weren't too keen on opening. The red petals of the akai netsuai hana, little beknownst to the pair, had taken on a luminescent aura. The soft red glow lit the edges of their bangs, as well as the collected droplets gathered around them.

Drenched leaves splashed their contents into the hair of Miroku, Sango, and the two youkai with them as they once again made their way through the brush. The moist soil squished beneath their sandals, and every now and then the sunlight would break through the trees to fall upon their faces. Dawn had broken only an hour ago, and the group had been treated to a small breakfast before leaving the widow's home...Miroku had been lead out by his ear, courtosey of Sango. After a fairly uneventful night, the small group was almost grateful to go and retrieve their missing companions, and head out again. As they walked, the same question bounced from person to silent person. What would they find when they reached Kagome and Inuyasha. Shippou certainly was jittery, crouched on Miroku's shoulder with a twitching tail. The kitsune's mode of transportation was quite a contrast. Miroku exuded an air of casual curiosity.

"I hope we're not waking them." Sango thought aloud as they neared the site. "I imagine...whatever happened, that they didn't sleep much last night."

"Probably not," Miroku agreed sagely as the miko and hanyou came into view.

"You think we should've given them a little more ti--ah..." Sango stopped short as she brushed the final few leaves hiding the pair from view. There, leaned against the tree, looking damp, ruffled, and at the same time very peaceful, were Inuyasha and Kagome. Inuyasha was missing his outer haori. It was crumpled in a pile beside Kagome, the fur on the outside of it looking completely soaked. He had a few dirt stains on what was visible of his forearms, and his hair looked messier than usual. The cherry on the cake of his suggestive appearance was the unworked sash of his hakama, which looked very much like it had been purposely fiddled with. The hanyou was fast asleep, his mouth hanging wide open while a few raspy sighs slipped out here and there. Right below the disheveled sash was Kagome. Naturally, Kagome had succumbed to gravity's pull, and hadn't remained propped on Inuyasha's chest. No... now the side of her face was resting on Inuyasha's right thigh, while the rest of her body was delicately sprawled off to Inuyasha's left. The backs and insides of her thighs still sported the little red nicks and scratches. The dark hair that cascaded all around them was filled with little bits of this and that. To top it all off, she seemed to be smiling in her sleep.

Sango had to keep her eyes from bulging out of their sockets. Still very much in disbelief, she felt almost obligated to turn away...but her vision was glued in place. Instantly the girl flushed to the same hue as the delicate crimson flower hanging over the hanyou and schoolgirl, which then broke from its stem and glided gently down to them...landing beside Kagome's nose.

"Well...that settles that, I suppose," Miroku concluded cheerfully. Shippou's mouth was a little dot at the bottom of his chin. He seemed temporarily paralyzed. Inuyasha, never a sound sleeper, fluttered an eye open. The opening of this first one was followed by the second, and in a moment he was blinking at the returned group of friends...who were all _staring_ at him. Still groggy, one of the hanyou's first orders of business was to turn his brows downward. "Oi...what the hell are you bastards all staring at me for?" Miroku looked Inuyasha in the eye, and then casually looked down at what was in his lap.

…..

The groggy hanyou looked at his friends, then looked down. Nothing registered. He had to look up at them, and then down at Kagome one more time before the pieces of the puzzle decided to slap themselves together in his mind.

…………

"O-OI, don't look at me like that, damnit! This ain't what you're thinkin'!" Everybody looked at him. Very dubiously. Meanwhile...all this noise was starting to wake Kagome up as well...she shifted a little bit in his lap. "I mean it! Stop thinkin' such nasty things!" Inuyasha's reddening face either supported or betrayed him, depending on how they decided to interpret it.

"Mnn...what's going on...?" Kagome mumbled, her eyes shutting tighter as she stretched where she lay. Inuyasha made a snarfling noise as Kagome shifted in his lap. That wasn't helping.

"Damnit Kagome, get up!" He demanded. The girl's eyes popped open. And then they got really big. In an instant, she was scrambling up and away from Inuyasha. Some of his hakama's color ran with her, giving her face a fuchsia stain of embarrassment. Kagome sat about five feet away from Inuyasha now, one hand over her racing heart. She had no idea that she was now letting everybody get a good look at her wrinkled shirt and skirt. In fact, it looked about to tear in some places where it had been snagged on the tree.

Inuyasha had shot to his feet as soon as he was sure that he wouldn't fling Kagome to the ground. His quick breathing was very evident, chest swiftly heaving in and out, mouth hanging slightly agape. A defensive death-glare was locked on the simultaneously blinking eyes of his friends. Miroku was eyeing each of them carefully, taking in each detail with a keen observance comparable to that of Sherlock Holmes. If it had to do with sex, Miroku would notice it.

Silence ensued for a good, agonizing thirty seconds.

"Inuyasha," Miroku finally said.

"What?" Inuyasha barked.

"I would like to speak to you in private." The houshi spoke calmly.

"KEH, fat chance of that!"

Miroku's eyes narrowed. "Would you rather I discuss these matters with you in front of the others?"

Inuyasha urked momentarily. "You think I can't shut you up, Miroku?"

Miroku seemed to ignore Inuyasha's threat, "I am concerned about Kagome-sama's wellbeing, both emotionally and physically. Look at her, Inuyasha."

Indeed...Kagome looked like a wreck...but not for the reasons her friends had in mind. Utter I-can't-believe-this-is-happening-embarrassment was rumbling through her veins. Inuyasha stepped forward and grabbed the houshi by the shoulder, rather than follow him. He yanked him abruptly into the brush. Miroku hop-hoped nonchalantly on one foot as Inuyasha dragged him away.

"Talk now."

Once apart from the group, Miroku straightened himself and began to speak quickly in low tones, "I warned you, Inuyasha. It was easy to loose control, wasn't it? With your inhuman strength, you were probably rough on her without realizing it. Take a good look at Kagome-sama."

Miroku could be seen falling through the bushes and into the sight of Kagome and the others, face first. A bulbous red lump was once again protruding from the back of his head. Inuyasha stomped out afterward, barely missing an opportunity to step on him. He then proceeded to gather up his haori and start to put it back on, back turned to everyone.

Shippou had been making his way over to Kagome cautiously, but jumped the last few feet when Miroku came came crashing back onto the scene. Kagome jumped a little, and then impulsively picked Shippou up and started hugging him...perhaps to comfort herself more than him. Miroku's brow was twitching rapidly as he lifted his face from the mud. He murmured something incoherent under his breath.

"Kagome..." Shippou ventured quietly.

Kagome forced a smile, "Hai, Shippou-chan?"

"Are you okay?"

"H-hai!" She answered reassuringly.

"...Are you sure...you're not hurt at all, right?"

"M-mou! Of course not!"

"Good..." Shippou sighed.

"Nn."

"...Whatcha gonna name the baby?"

Kagome's eyes turned into little tiny dots. Her polite, quiet voice suddenly cracked with high volume, "N-nani!" Inuyasha's body could be seen freezing from behind. Sango finally felt it was time to interject.

"Shippou, that's enough...Kagome-chan doesn't want to talk about it, as you can see." She spoke sternly. Kagome quickly stood up, squeezing Shippou more tightly than she probably realized,

"M-mou! Nothing happened between Inuyasha and me!" Sango didn't seem to hear Kagome.

"It takes about nine months for a baby to grow, anyway..." The taijiya added into her miniature lecture to Shippou. Kagome's red face was sputtering in attempts to relay the truth.

"There is no baby! Nothing happened!" The poor girl continued to go ignored. Miroku held up a muddy finger.

"Actually, Sango, it takes nine and a half months."

"Really?" Shippou was fascinated. "It took my mom two years to have me."

"Two years? That's so long...but a human like Kagome-chan would take a much shorter time. That is, unless carrying a hanyou's child would affect her..." Sango started to look a little thoughtful.

"I hope the morning sickness won't be aggravated by that," Miroku added.

"If it is, I bet Inuyasha will just get mad and complain about how she's making him wait." Shippou predicted with sagely pessimism. Meanwhile Inuyasha's slow twitching had been brought to a rather rapid succession as the topic of his non-existent offspring progressed. A ticking time bomb waiting to explode in an outburst of denial, the hanyou needed no more excuse to whip around and face everyone in a fury. Kagome's eyelids clamped themselves shut, as if to try to guard herself from her friends' analysis. Of course, her hands were too occupied to cover her ears as well, so shutting her eyes didn't help much. Flagrant misunderstandings were lashed against her ears so many times. She finally couldn't help but lift up her toes, balance on her heels, and lean forward to scream,

"WE DIDN'T DO ANYTHING, THERE IS NO BABY!" Inuyasha had spun around and yelled this in unison with the girl. Everyone else fell into a dubious silence.

"...Are you sure?" Shippou asked.

………..

Later, as the group continued on their way...Shippou sporting a lump that rivaled the size of his head...it could be noted that Inuyasha had purposely fallen behind the others. It was his usual tendency to either lead or walk in the back, mood depending. He walked at a casual pace now, arms crossed through his sleeves. His eyelids were lowered in what could be taken as an arrogant manner, though his expression wasn't all that easy to read. The hanyou had been particularly quiet ever since they had departed from that clearing where far too much (and perhaps too little) had happened. Kagome was unusually quiet as well, but her traveling position was relatively unaffected. As usual, she was drifting around from middle to back. After a while, Kagome found her mind settling. She knew what had and hadn't happened...and her friends probably believed her...somewhat. Such musings and concerns over recent events pattered through her thoughts over the next couple of hours. Eventually she found herself straggling to such a degree that she was almost as far back as Inuyasha. _He really is trailing behind...all of this must have been really hard on him..._

Kagome stopped walking. Inuyasha passed by the girl for two steps before he took notice of the fact that she'd stopped. Curious, he stopped as well. Lids were raised and he cocked a brow at her.

"What's up, Kagome?" He asked rather softly.

"Gomen, Inuyasha, " She said just as softly, looking at the dirt in front of her toes. The boy looked perplexed.

"Eh? What're you apologizing for?"

Kagome looked up at him with a surprisingly calm, sincere face. "I'm sorry...about everything that happened last night. I know it must have been rough on you." Inuyasha's features loosened some, and he stared for only a moment at that face full of sincerity... then he blew out a short sigh, and his eyes regained that arrogant look to them. "Keh, you think I haven't gotten through worse?"

"Well...this is different from what you're used to." She answered.

"I've put up with Myouga's shit for ages. You got nothin' to apologize for."

"Anou..." She was tentative. "After all that...how did you get through the rest of the night?" Kagome knew that he probably didn't sleep much. Also...the fact that she found herself waking up on him meant that he got over the trauma fairly quickly. Just the thought had her heart pattering a little faster, and her cheeks flushing a little.

"I...ah..." Inuyasha stammered just a little, momentarily drawing a blank for a good answer. The boy abruptly cleared his throat and started walking on, a clear signal to Kagome that she should do the same. "I-I told you, I've gotten through worse before!" Kagome smiled and closed her eyes breifly before opening them to walk after him.

She was silent for a few more seconds before venturing, "You said before that...there was usually something...inside that kept you going..." The girl's mind was running over the fact that he'd apparently let her lean on him to sleep...the fact that after all that trauma, he still wanted to do that for her... Inuyasha glanced over at her from the corner of his eye.

"...yeah?"

"...What was it?" Her voice was shy.

The hanyou began to gain the slightest bit of uneasiness about him. "What was it?" He parroted. "It...it can't be explained so easily."

"No?"

"Nope." Inuyasha tried to look serious and set in his words.

"Ah..." They walked a few more steps. "Was it..." Kagome paused. Even though a part of her was wondering...she couldn't ask if it was her. "...us? As in, Sango-chan, Miroku-sama, Shippou-chan...and I?"

Inuyasha took a moment to answer. For five seconds, the boy stared straight ahead of himself...at the backs of the heads of his friends. His eyes were wider than usual when they turned themselves to the girl, to look at her...his cheeks may have had the slightest tinge of pink resting on them. Did he understand what she was really asking? It could very well have been her imagination. The boy's staring ceased as he gave his head a swift shake and looked straight ahead once more, returning his expression to normal. The group was passing over the crest of a hill as he opened his mouth to answer once more.

"Keh." He spoke casually. "What kind of weird question is that?" Kagome smiled. She shouldn't have expected him to acknowledge anything like that anyway. So she gave a playful reply,

"Mou, you can't give a straight answer to anything, can you?"

"You're asking me stupid questions!" He defended.

"It's a perfectly reasonable question."

"I'm tellin' you, it was stupid!".

"You're just afraid to answer it."

"You callin' me a chickenshit?"

"...Not in that term, exactly..."

"Well I ain't afraid!"

"Then why don't you answer?"

"Because I don't gotta answer something so stupid!"

"You really are hopeless."

"What's that supposed to mean!"

"Bet-su-niii"

"Answer me, damnit!" Inuyasha demanded immaturely as they passed over the hilltop, heading for the vast landscape ahead. A pair of skylarks fluttered happily overhead, cooing at each other affectionately as they made their way across the bright sky.

The End.

Footnotes:

Inuyasha grumbles. "Well I sure hope all those 'fangirls' are happy now that I've been freakin' humiliated for three chapters.

Kagome replies, "Actually they're probably not all that happy. Nothing happened between us….usually they're looking for some sort of physical romance."

Inuyasha blushes. "Wh-what the hell did they want us to do?"

Kagome sighs and folds her arms. "I'm sure a lot of them are disappointed that we didn't wind up doing what the flower predicted…"

Inuyasha looks appalled. "Naniii? Do they really think that little of us?"

Kagome nods. "Unfortunately, yes."

Inuyasha scowls. "Why are we even tellin' them this story?"

Kagome blinks. "Anou…I don't know. Maybe to illustrate to them that we're really not like that."

"Damn right we're not like that! I couldn't even get myself to kiss you!"

Kagome's expression sours. "So you're saying you wouldn't have, even if the lightning hadn't struck?"

Inuyasha stutters. "O-of course not! What makes you think I would've?"

Kagome's tone is very stiff. "Ah. I see."

"At least the damn thing's over now."

………

Inuyasha finds his face in the dirt again.

Kagome turns politely to the audience. "Thank you for reading! Hope you check back for our next story!"


End file.
